To these, let us adde that, which the same Prophet speakes, in ch. 12. ver. 4. That knowledge shall be encreased; for then the prophecies shall better be understood, the meaning of which we can scarce attaine to, till they be fulfilled. So after the Otteman race began to flourish, we understood the prophesie of the two leggs of the Image of Nebuchadnezzar, which is to be overthrowne by the fifth Monarchy, which shall be in the World. So Jeremiah after he had handled in Chap. 30. the redemption of Israel, and Judah, and of the war of Gog, and Magog (of which Daniel also speakes in ch. 12.) when he treats of the Scepter of the Messiah the son of David, of the ruine of the Nations, of the restoration of Judah, of holy Jerusalem, and of the third Temple, he adds in ver. 24. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not returne, till he hath executed it, and till he hath performed the intents of his heart; in the latter dayes ye shall understand it. From whence followes what we have said, that the time of redemption is at hand. And because Jeremiah in that Chapter makes an abridgement of all things that shall be, therefore it is said in ver. 2. Write thee all the words which I have spoken to thee in a book. By this meane making the Prophecie clearer, by relating in a cleare style, whatever the Prophets had fore-told; imitating Moses, the last words of whose song are, Sing, O ye Nations, with his people, in Deut. 32.43. Also the last words which he spake, after that he had blessed the Tribes, are these, Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like to thee, O people? saved by the Lord, who is the sheild of thy help, and the sword of thy excellency; and thine enemies shall be found lyars to thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places, in Deut. 33.29. From whence it appeares, that God will revenge the bloud of Israel, which had been shed. Joel confirmes the same in ch. 3.19. Ægypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a filthy desert, for the violence, and injury offered to the Jewes, and because they have shed innocent bloud in their Land. And as they shall be punished by the just judgement of God, who wish us evill: so also God will give blessings upon them who favour us. And those are the trees of the field which then shall rejoyce. So God saith to Abraham, in Gen. 12.3. I will blesse them who blesse thee, and curse them that curse thee.
These are the things which I could gather concerning this matter, which hath not been heretofore handled; from whence these consequences may be deduced.
1. That the West-Indies, were anciently inhabited by a part of the ten Tribes, which passed thither out of Tartary, by the Streight of Anian.
2. That the Tribes are not in any one place, but in many; because the Prophets have fore-told their return shall be into their Country, out of divers places; Isaiah especially saith it shall be out of eight.
3. That they did not returne to the second Temple.
4. That at this day they keep the Jewish Religion.
5. That the prophecies concerning their returne to their Country, are of necessity to be fulfilled.
6. That from all coasts of the World they shall meet in those two places, sc. Assyria, and Ægypt; God preparing an easie, pleasant way, and abounding with all things, as Isaiah saith, ch. 49. and from thence they shall flie to Jerusalem, as birds to their nests.
7. That their Kingdome shall be no more divided; but the twelve Tribes shall be joyned together under one Prince, that is under Messiah the Son of David; and that they shall never be driven out of their Land.
I returne to the relation of our Montezinus, which I prefer before the opinions of all others as most true for that Peru should be derived from the name Ophir, as Gulielmus Postellus, Goropius in Ortelius, Bozius de signis Eccles. lib. 2. c. 3. Marinus in arca Noah, P. Sa. in 3. Reg. Pomarius in his Lexicon, and Possevinus lib. 2. Biblith. c. 8. do think, cannot be proved; as Pineda hath wel observed, in Job, c. 28. p. 500. for we have said out of Garcilasso de la Vega, that that name was unknown to them of Peru. Ophir then is East-India, if we beleeve Josephus, lib. 8. Antiquit. Judaic. c. 6. & Acosta in lib. 1. Histor. Ind. from whence Solomon fetched gold, and precious stones. But what Gomara in part 1. hist. Ind. fol. 120. and Zarate in proæm. hist. Peru, would have, that ours did passe over that famous, and much praised Island (by Plato in Critia, and Timæus) of Atlantis, and so went into the neighbour Islands of Barlovent, and from thence to the firm land, and at last to the Kingdom of Peru, and New-Spain; it is deservedly exploded as fabulous; and Acosta laughs at it, in lib. 1. hist. Ind. c. 22. But Marcilius Ficinus in comment. in Timeum, c. 4. & Critia, that he might defend Plato, thinkes (and his Disciples, Porphiry, Origen, and Proclus doe follow him) that all that which is in Critia, and in Timæus, is to be understood allegorically. And who will beleeve Lescarbotus, who saith that they are the Canaanites, who fled thither for feare of Joshua? For I cannot be perswaded that they sought out Countries so far remote. They who will have them of Peru to have come out of Norwey, or Spain, may be confuted by their very form, manners and the unlikenesse of their Languages. But that is more false, that they are Israelites, who have forgot circumcision, and their rites. For they are of a comly body, and of a good wit, as saith Doct. Johannes Huarte, in his book which is called, Examen ingenior. c. 14. But contrarily all men know that the Indians are deformed, dul, and altogether rude. And we have abundantly shown, with how great study, and zeal, the Israelites have kept their Language, and Religion, out of their Country.
Montezinus then speaks most likely; that as other people forced the Israelites to betake them to the mountains: so America being first of all inhabited by the persecuting Tartars, they were driven to the mountains of Cordillere, where at last they were hid, as God would have it. Truly, comparing the Israelites themselves, or their Laws, with other people, I see not anything that comes nearer truth. Perhaps also America was not of old contiguous to Asia on the North side. It doth not seeme to me such an absurdity, to say, that the Israelites went out of Tartary into America by land; and afterward, that God, to preserve his, among other miracles, also wrought this, to make that a Sea, where now is the streight of Anian. Yea that might be don without a miracle, by accident, as we know that more than once, the Sea by a violent storm hath carryed away the Land, and made Islands. Xenophon in suis æquivoc. mentions the inundations of Ægypt, which happened in the days of Prometheus, and Hercules. Also Berosus in lib. 5. and Diodorus li. 6. mentions the inundation of Attica, in which Athens stands. Pliny in lib. 2. c. 85. & lib. 13. c. 11. Strabo in l. 1. & l. 12. and Plutarch in Alexandr. relate the drowning of the Isle Pharaonica; of which Luther speaks so elegantly in lib. ultimo. Besides, who knows not how many, and how great Cities have at divers times been almost wholly ruined by several earthquakes? Sueton, in Tiberio, c. 48. writes, that under Tiberius, twelve Cities in Asia have been by this means ruined. Orosius lib. 7. c. 4. and Dion Cassius lib. 57. do affirm the same, though they differ about the time. Tacitus in lib. 14, and Eusebius in Chron. relate the destruction of that famous and rich City of Laodicea. Origen tom. 28. in Joan and Baronius tom. 2. Annal. Ecclesiast, Ann. 340: do speak of other earthquakes, which have destroyed divers, and very many men, and Cities. And P. Alonsus in suo manual. tempor. relates, that the same hath happened in our dayes; saith he, In the year 1638. A great Earthquake happened in the Islands of the Terceræ, but especially in St. Michael, where the Governour dwells; for that unheard of shaking of the earth, and houses, struck so great terror into the Inhabitants, that al fled out of their houses & lived in the fields, a little after, two miles from thence, they saw the Sea vomit up abundance of fiery matter, which made a very thicke smoake, which covered the very clouds; and it cast up many great stones which seemed like rocks; part whereof falling downe againe, made an Island in the Sea which was halfe a mile over, and sixty fathom high, & an hundred & fifty fathom deep. That hot exhalation which that fiery mountain sent forth, pierced the very waters, and stifled so many fishes, that two Indian ships could not carry them. The same Island two years after, was swallowed up again of the Sea.
Hee that doth seriously weigh those things, may (I think) well gather, that the Sea of the Streight of Anian was an inundation. By affirming which, this doubt may be answered, sc. That after the universall Flood, man-kinde encreased againe, and all beasts, which had been preserved in the Arke. But how could so many kinds of beasts, (which come by propagation, and are not bred out of the earth) be found in those Countries? Some did swim thither, some were brought thither by some huntsmen, some were bred out of the earth, as Austin thinks it happened in the first Creation. But what Land-beast can swim over so great a Sea? And would Huntsmen carry Lyons thither, and other such kind of beasts, oftentimes to the great hazzard of their lives? And if God would have created those beasts out of the earth, he would not have commanded Noah to have kept them in the Ark. I am fully perswaded, that the beasts which are found there passed that way into America; unlesse any thinks that this new world is joyned to the old, on some other side, as Herrera beleeves Dec. 3. lib. 11. c. 10.
As for the other things in the relation of our Montezinus, they say nothing which savours of falshood. For their saying that the Semah, truly it is the custom of our people, in what part soever of the world they live; and it is the abridgement of the confession and religion of the Jewes. That revelation of the Magicians whom they call Mohanes, it agrees with those things which in 2 Esdras you may see, concerning the Miracles which God wrought for the Israelites, as they passed over Euphrates, concerning those conditions of not revealing secrets to any, but such an one who hath seen three hundred Moons, (which make twenty five years) it appeares to be true, by what the famous De Laet tells in many parts of America, that the Indians do compute their years by Moones. That a secret must be told in the Field, doth not that argue a Jewish custome, which the ancients have observed in Jacob? who being about to depart from Laban, he called his Wives into the field.
I now conclude this discourse, in which this only was in my intention, that I might briefly, and compendiously declare mine, and the Rabbies opinion, concerning those things which I have handled. I hope that this my indeavor will not be unacceptable, being desired by many men famous both for Birth, and for Learning; not unprofitable, having therein explained the relation of Montezinus, with what brevity I could. The Name of God be blessed for ever. Amen.